The Brain That Changes Itself

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Norman Doidge: The Brain That Changes Itself (2008, Penguin Group USA, Inc.)

Electronic resource

English language

Published Sept. 6, 2008 by Penguin Group USA, Inc..

ISBN:
978-1-4295-2877-1
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3 stars (1 review)

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed—people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

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A book that changes how we think about the brain ...

3 stars

I found The Brain that Changes itself to be a decent entry level reference to brain plasticity. Norman writes with clarity and accessibility on a topic that could have been crowded with complicated medical jargon, on the flip side, I found his narrative to be sometimes dangerously close to hyperbolic, but I think it is important to read between the lines of pragmatic research and selling the reader the idea through case studies. Why I say this, is because he doesn't question the findings of others but runs with it wholeheartedly. This might be what he refers to as "perfectibility", and something he unconsciously is doing himself.

He does write briefly about the contrary nature of neurological plasticity (the plastic paradox), and revisits that notion in the last chapter. I wanted more from the other side of the argument and why the contradictions don't stand up, so I could balance …